whose bundles of briefs were getting inconveniently large to be carried in their hands. These perquisites were abolished in 1830. English brief-bags are now either blue or red. Blue bags are those with which barristers provide themselves when first called, and it is a breach of etiquette to let this bag be visible in court. The only brief-bag allowed to be placed on the desks is the red bag, which by English legal etiquette is given by a leading counsel to a junior who has been useful to him in some important case.
BRIEG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, on the left bank of the Oder, and on the Breslau and Beuthen railway, 27 m. S.E. of the former city. Pop. (1900) 24,090. It has a castle (the residence of the old counts of Brieg), a lunatic asylum, a gymnasium with a good library, several churches and hospitals, and a theatre. Its fortifications were destroyed by the French in 1807, and are now replaced by beautiful promenades. Brieg carries on a considerable trade, its chief manufactures being linen, embroideries, cotton and woollen goods, ribbons, leather, machinery, hats, pasteboard and cigars. Important cattle-markets are held here. Brieg, or, as it is called in early documents, Civitas Altae Ripae, obtained municipal rights in 1250 from Duke Henry III. of Breslau, and was fortified in 1297; its name is derived from the Polish Brzeg (shore). Burned by the Hussites in 1428, the town was soon afterwards rebuilt, and in 1595 it was again fortified by Joachim Frederick, duke of Brieg. In the Thirty Years’ War it suffered greatly; in that of the Austrian succession it was heavily bombarded by the Prussian forces; and in 1807 it was captured by the French and Bavarians. From 1311 to 1675 Brieg was the capital of an independent line of dukes, a cadet branch of the Polish dukes of Lower Silesia, by one of whom the castle was built in 1341. In 1537 Frederick II., duke of Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau, concluded with Joachim II., elector of Brandenburg, a treaty according to which his duchy was to pass to the house of Brandenburg in the event of the extinction of his line. On the death of George William the last duke in 1675, however, Austria refused to acknowledge the validity of the treaty and annexed the duchies. It was the determination of Frederick II. of Prussia to assert his claim that led in 1740 to the war that ended two years later in the cession of Silesia to Prussia.
See Stokvis, Manuel d’histoire, iii. pp. 54, 64.
BRIEG, often now spelt Brig (Fr. Brigue, Ital. Briga), a picturesque small town in the Swiss canton of the Valais, situated at the foot of the northern slope of the Simplon Pass, on the right bank of the Saltine stream, and a little above its junction with the Rhone. Its older houses are very Italian in appearance, while its most prominent buildings (castle, former Jesuits’ college and Ursuline convent) all date from the 17th century, and are due to the generosity of a single member of the local Stockalper family. The prosperity of Brieg is bound up with the Simplon Pass (q.v.), so that it gradually supplanted the more ancient village of Naters opposite, becoming a separate parish (the church is at Glis, a few minutes from the town) in 1517. Its medieval name was Briga dives. The opening of the carriage road across the Simplon (1807) and of the tunnel beneath the pass (1906), as well as the fact that above Brieg is the steeper and less fertile portion of the Upper Valais (now much frequented by tourists), have greatly increased the importance and size of the town. The opening of the railway tunnel beneath the Lötschen Pass, affording direct communication with Bern and the Bernese Oberland, is calculated still further to contribute to its prosperity. The new town extends below the old one and is closer to the right bank of the Rhone. In 1900 the population was 2182, almost all Romanists, while 1316 were German-speaking, 719 Italian-speaking (the Simplon tunnel workmen), and 142 French-speaking, one person only speaking Romonsch.
(W. A. B. C.)
BRIELLE (Briel or Bril), a seaport in the province of South Holland, Holland, on the north side of the island of Voorne, at the mouth of the New Maas, 512 m. N. of Hellevoetsluis. Pop. (1900) 4107. It is a fortified place and has a good harbour, arsenal, magazine and barracks. It also possesses a quaint town hall, and an orphanage dating from 1533. The tower of the Groote Kerk of St Catherine serves as a lighthouse. Most of the trade of Brielle was diverted to Hellevoetsluis by the cutting of the Voornsche Canal in 1829, but it still has some business in corn and fodder, as well as a few factories. A large number of the inhabitants are also engaged in the fisheries and as pilots.
The chief event in the history of Brielle is its capture by the Gueux sur Mer, a squadron of privateers which raided the Dutch coast under commission of the prince of Orange. This event, which took place on the 1st of April 1572, was the first blow in the long war of Dutch independence, and was followed by a general outbreak of the patriotic party (Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, part iii. chapter vi.). “The Brill” was one of the four Dutch towns handed over to Queen Elizabeth in 1584 as security for English expenses incurred in aiding the Dutch. Brielle is the birthplace of the famous admiral Martin van Tromp, and also of Admiral van Almonde, a distinguished commander of the early 18th century.
BRIENNE-LE-CHÂTEAU, a town of north-eastern France, in the department of Aube, 1 m. from the right bank of the Aube and 26 m. N.E. of Troyes on the Eastern railway. Pop. (1906) 1761. The château, which overlooks the town, is an imposing building of the latter half of the 18th century, built by the cardinal de Brienne (see below). It possesses an important collection of pictures, many of them historical portraits of the 17th and 18th centuries. The church dates from the 16th century and contains good stained glass. A statue of Napoleon commemorates his sojourn at Brienne from 1779 to 1784, when he was studying at the military school suppressed in 1790. In 1814 Brienne was the scene of fighting between Napoleon and the Allies (see Napoleonic Campaigns). Brewing is carried on in the town. Brienne-la-Vieille, a village 112 m. south of Brienne-le-Château, has a church of the 12th and 16th centuries with fine stained windows. The portal once belonged to the ancient abbey of Bassefontaine, the ruins of which are situated near the village.
Counts of Brienne.—Under the Carolingian dynasty Brienne-le-Château was the capital town of a French countship. In the 10th century it was captured by two adventurers named Engelbert and Gobert, and from the first of these sprang the noble house of Brienne. In 1210 John of Brienne (1148–1237) became king of Jerusalem, through his marriage with Mary of Montsserrat, heiress of the kingdom of Jerusalem. He led a crusade in Egypt which had no lasting success; and when in 1229 he was elected emperor of the East, for the period of Baldwin II.’s minority, he fought and conquered the Greek emperor John III. (Batatzes or Vatatzes). Walter V., count of Brienne and of Lecce (Apulia) and duke of Athens, fought against the Greeks and at first drove them from Thessaly, but was eventually defeated and killed near Lake Copais in 1311. His son, Walter VI., after having vainly attempted to reconquer Athens in 1331, served under Philip of Valois against the English. Having defended Florence against the Pisans he succeeded in obtaining dictatorial powers for himself in the republic; but his tyrannical conduct brought about his expulsion. He was appointed constable of France by John the Good, and was killed at the battle of Poitiers in 1356. His sister and heiress Isabelle married Walter of Enghien, and so brought Brienne to the house of Enghien, and, by his marriage with Margaret of Enghien, John of Luxemburg-St Pol (d. about 1397) became count of Brienne. The house of Luxemburg retained the countship until Margaret Charlotte of Luxemburg sold it to a certain Marpon, who ceded it to Henri Auguste de Loménie (whose wife, Louise de Béon, descended from the house of Luxemburg-Brienne) in 1640. The Limousin house of Loménie (the genealogies which trace this family to the 15th century are untrustworthy) produced many well-known statesmen, among others the celebrated cardinal Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne (1727–1794), minister of Louis XV.; and the last lords of Brienne were members of this family. (M. P.*)
BRIENZ, LAKE OF, in the Swiss canton of Bern, the first lake into which the river Aar expands. It lies in a deep hollow between the village of Brienz on the east (2580 inhabitants, the
